Ohio Valley Outdoors Magazine

Taxidermist: Mistakes that can ruin your trophy

By Gregg Henning

You just bagged a wall hanger. Now what? You’ve spent many years and even more dollars to get to this point, lets not screw things up now. I am a taxidermist and I am here to help you avoid the common mistakes that can ruin your trophy before you even get him on the wall.
Many hunters believe that taxidermist can “fix anything” — that just isn’t so. High powered rifles and shotguns can do unrepairable damage to big game animals and delicate feathers. The mount will only be as good as the specimen brought in to the taxidermist, so a little common sense will go a long way to ensuring you get the specimen to your taxidermist in the best shape possible.

Most trophies are ruined within the first few hours after the kill. Bacteria will attack your specimen in just a short time. Blood, dirt, heat and water must be kept to a minimum. Remember: COOL, DRY AND CLEAN.
I know blood just can’t be avoided you just put a big hole in him and you have to gut him out, it is also a little dirty in the woods. Well, first off do your best to clean off any excess blood. Soft paper towels work well. If you shot him in the chest or neck plug the hole with the towels and while you’re at it put some in his nostrils. Blood is full of bacteria and if you’ve been paying attention bacteria is BAD.

Next we move on to cuts. Cuts are also BAD. Never cut an animal’s throat. When you gut the animal (small game, birds and fish should never be gutted) do not cut all the way up to the neck; instead stop before you reach the front legs. The fewer holes you put in the better your mount will be.
Attention Pennsylvania hunters: the Game Commission may require you to tag a deer’s ear but it doesn’t require you to break out Granddad’s old bowie knife and shove it all the way through the ear leaving a hole that you could put your fist through. A better way is to use a large safety pin and pin your tag to the base of the ear. Ears can be fixed but it makes a nicer job for me and you if we just avoid that altogether.

All right if we haven’t screwed things up so far we’re not out of the woods yet, and that is the next problem.
Small game hunters, I think, you can figure this one out by yourself. But bird hunters you’ve got a whole different problem. Here’s what I suggest. Borrow a pair of nylons from your wife and cut the toe off one leg to give you a tube. Straighten the feathers out the best you can then reach through the nylon tube and gently take bird by the head and pull bird into nylon tube, keeping all feathers neatly in place.

Back to big game hunters. Now unless you have a magician in the family that can levitate your animal out of the wood, you’ve got to drag him. The first thing is not to tie a rope around his neck. Deer and other big game have hair that is hollow like little drinking straw and if you break the hair it is broken and can’t be fixed.
Tie the rope around the antlers instead and if you have to actually drag him it is a good idea to put down a tarp or a piece of plastic so the animal will not come in contact with the ground. Rocks and pointy sticks can cut the hair, especially on the shoulder area. Cut hair is BAD, we can’t fix cut hairs.
OK, you’ve got him out of the woods. Now what? Driving him around to show your friends is, you guessed it BAD. Remember it’s dead, and what happens to dead things. Dead things start to rot; as soon as it’s dead it will start to rot. Take him straight home and cape him out or take him to the processor. Even on cold winter days the dark hair will start to absorb the sun’s heat. You should know by now, heat is BAD.

Now just because a guy butchers deer doesn’t mean he’s a taxidermist or knows what we need as far as the cape is considered. The forms used to mount big game available today have much more shoulder area than in the old days and we as taxidermist need more skin left on than some processors leave. Tell your processor that you what at least half of the hide left on the head and not to cut the brisket area (the funny looking hair on the front of the chest) and not to cut into the armpit hair. Instead cut up the back edge of the leg where the brown and white hair meet. Leave at least five inches of neck meat left attached to the skull. Your taxidermist really needs that neck meat to get a measurement of your deer. Get him to your taxidermist or in your freezer as soon as possible.

Now for you fish guys. What we have to worry about is scale loss and fin damage. So handle as gently as possible. Again do not gut the fish. If you have already gutted your fish it may be still mountable but expect to pay a few extra dollars for repair work. A good color photograph will also be helpful as fish soon begin to lose their color and our job is to paint the colors back on so any good reference photos would be helpful and much appreciated. If possible do not put on stringer or at least leave on any longer than necessary. As soon as possible get an accurate measurement and freeze the fish. Now if your going to your taxidermist within a few days all is good, but if you plan on waiting there are a few things you should do to protect your fish. First get a clean white, no ink rag (this rules newspaper out) or old t-shirt. Wet the rag with water and sprinkle some 20 Mule Team Borax on it. Yes, the soap in the green box. (Especially around the vent area as acid will leak out of this area and can eat away at the skin). Wrap fish in the wet rag and push all air out then wrap in plastic wrap and freeze. The main key here is to get all of the air out and the wet rag right next to the skin, to help protect from freezer burn. Pay particular attention to the tail.

While were on the subject of freezer burn. The freezer is a good way to store your trophy until you can get him to the taxidermist but it is not a time machine and the longer your trophy is in the freezer unprotected the greater the chance of freezer burn, and yes freezer burn is BAD.
Whether it’s your child’s first or your latest, it all begins will proper field care and proper field care is your responsibility. Unless you want to pay me to hunt with you? I always wanted to go big game hunting in Africa.

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Gregg Henning is a veteran taxidermist and owner of Hennings Taxidermy, Chester, W.Va.